California has taken matters into its own hands to elevate the reputation of domestic olive oil just in time for the fall harvest. Last month, the California Department of Food and Agriculture announced new standards for the state’s olive oil producers, based on recommendations from the industry’s leaders.

Farmers at the annual fundraiser for The Center for Land-Based Learning say they’re doing OK this year, with a bit of strategic tinkering and water-wise practices. But if the drought drags on into another year, they except to hurt, a lot.

As California faces a historic drought, many farmers are relying on groundwater reserves to carry them through the dry season. Pumping groundwater is currently unregulated in California (that could soon change), and drawing on reserves now could cause shortages in the future. Sustainability-minded farmers are looking ahead and using an arsenal of methods to conserve water. Here are just a few.

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Bay Area Bites (BAB), KQED's public media food blog, feeds you visually compelling food-related stories, news, recipes and reviews from the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. Enter your email address to receive updates each time we publish new posts.

Few people have a middling relationship to raw oysters—this mysterious, ubiquitous bivalve is loved and loathed in equal measure. These ten East Bay spots fall on the love end of the spectrum, and offer the best quality and presentation of these strange and healthful sea creatures on the east side of the bay.

It is easy to see why bánh mì are so popular. A leftover influence from French colonization, these Vietnamese sandwiches are inexpensive and bursting with great flavors and textures. Here is a list of ten unique bánh mì shops in the South Bay.

Everyone is talking about ramen, and there’s a ramen shop in almost every East Bay neighborhood. But what about all the other delicious Asian soups out there with the same soul-warming potential? Here are ten soups (at eight venues) you might not have thought of.

Here is a helpful guide highlighting ten popular pizza restaurants in the South Bay Area. Of course, there are plenty more than ten restaurants in the South Bay that are worthy of making this list so please share your favorites in the comments.

It’s 5 o’clock, and you’re leaving the office in search of some post-work libations and snacks before dinner. You could go the traditional happy hour route — where you’re limited to a few drinks and small bites within a short window of time — or you could up the ante and visit a Japanese izakaya.

Single-serve Greek yogurt cups are doing big business. A glance at their growing real estate in the dairy aisle says plenty about the snack’s growing popularity. Most yogurt companies tout their product’s healthfulness, but they gloss over the added sugars, flavorings, dyes and binders used to make their yogurt shelf-stable and kid-friendly. Make the snack at home for a healthier snack. Kate Williams will show you how.

Two UC Berkeley professors think weeds get a bad rap. In fact, they believe the “mountains” of wild edible plants growing between the Bay Area’s sidewalks can help solve food access problems in food deserts.

Here is a helpful guide highlighting ten popular pizza restaurants in the South Bay Area. Of course, there are plenty more than ten restaurants in the South Bay that are worthy of making this list so please share your favorites in the comments.

It’s 5 o’clock, and you’re leaving the office in search of some post-work libations and snacks before dinner. You could go the traditional happy hour route — where you’re limited to a few drinks and small bites within a short window of time — or you could up the ante and visit a Japanese izakaya.